Is Brian Michael Bendis' SCARLET Marvel Comic Being Adapted as an HBO Show?
Update: Deadline has now updated their report with more information, including that the show is heading to HBO's sister channel Cinemax, not HBO themselves. There's also another quote from Bendis: “Scarlet is a list of things you can’t get made. Here’s a female lead who’s killing cops because her world is broken.” But, he says, “when it was sold it was sold to people who were actively looking for that, so that put us in a good place. So stay tuned.” Original article follows:
At the ATX Television Festival today, comic writer Brian Michael Bendis — who created both PlayStation's Powers and Alias, the comic on which Jessica Jones is based — made an interesting comment about the potential future of another one of his comic properties, the Marvel/Icon series Scarlet. According to Deadline, Bendis said:
"I do a book called Scarlet which is soon to be announced also in our universe of television. Not announced yet, but HBO."
Hilariously, the same article says that an HBO representative said "the network is not familiar with the project." So obviously someone's either lying, there's been a pretty big misunderstanding, or Bendis has only had early conversations with a limited number of HBO people about this potential show and word hasn't yet reached its PR department.
Scarlet, which Bendis co-created with artist Alex Maleev, is described like this at Amazon:
"Scarlet is the story of a woman pushed to the edge by all that is wrong with the world...A woman who will not back down...A woman who discovers within herself the power to start a modern American revolution!
Scarlet has declared war on a city strangled from within by corruption! Her call to arms has been heard all over the world...but now Scarlet makes her boldest move yet, taking City Hall hostage while the entire country watches. How will the public react to her list of demands? Can a modern revolution gain traction? And what will the government do to shut her down? The answers will surprise you, as Scarlet finds herself forced to make a dangerous and desperate move...letting them capture her!"
When I first saw this news and read Bendis, Marvel, and Scarlet, I thought this might be a Scarlet Witch comic that could mean Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch was getting her own TV show. Frankly, I was relieved to hear that's not the case, since I'm not sure I could handle that accent for multiple hours on end. We'll see if this develops into anything or if it ends up on the scrap heap.